Wednesday, November 01, 2006

I don't know about you, but ever since X-Games and extreme sports have saturated teen culture, Christians have felt the need to convince their young people that being a Christian is RADICAL! Even EXTREME! WHOA!!

I'm tired of it. It makes me extremely aggravated. I'm sick of the entire schtick (I'm a poet and I didn't know it). From the extreme Bibles:

to the radical clothes:

to the awesome books:

Oh, and don't forget this guy:

He's extremely X-treme!

Oh, and just for kicks and giggles, here's an extreme transcript from part of Stephen Baldwin's extreme interview with Rick Sanchez on CNN. Pay extreme attention to the parts in bold, which are my extreme emphasis. Sorry for saying extreme so often...

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SANCHEZ: His was a life of fast women, hard drugs, alcohol during his early years in Hollywood. Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the famous Baldwin brothers, finally put the brakes on what some might consider a bit of an out-of-control lifestyle. And now he says he's a new man, and in perhaps his most pivotal role. His book "The Unusual Suspect" is what Baldwin calls his calling to the new hard-core movement of faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN BALDWIN, ACTOR: I wrote "The Unusual Suspect" because I wanted to express the experience I'm having in my faith in a new kind of funky, cool, radical way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, now you're going to see him live. Stephen Baldwin is here this morning joining us.

BALDWIN: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

SANCHEZ: Stephen, thanks so much for being with us.

BALDWIN: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: I'm in upstate New York, I'm driving around somewhere, and suddenly we're in our Conversion van, my four kids, my wife, our dog, and my wife says, "That's Stephen Baldwin." And by golly, it was. And Stephen Baldwin comes over and taps on the window after she says, "Hi." And you were kind enough to be real nice to my kids. And then you said, "I have a conversion van just like that one." True?

BALDWIN: That's so funny. I cannot believe that. Well, you know, I used to call that a coincidence. Now I call it a Jesusidence (ph).

Who Is This Guy?

Kitsch

A derogatory term used to describe works created specifically in order to pander to public demand. In this case, Christian demand for cutesy knick-knacks and other pseudo-spiritual items. I feel like the word 'kitschy' could describe a lot of the contemporary Christian church. We're converting the world, one t-shirt at a time.